Issue #15

Welcome to Issue #15 of Sonic Postcards!

This week's playlist kicks off with a track called "So What". The track comes off the latest release from Pinegrove (one of my all-time favorite bands) called 11:11.

The album is a fantastic listen, with the familiar Pinegrove themes of symmetry and circularity echoing throughout. The more on the nose manifestations of these themes are through the album artwork and the album title (11:11 being a palindrome composed of the number that represents oneness).

The themes emerge through the subject matter as well. The album addresses the hard to miss global pitfalls of the past few years, namely climate change, but seeks to balance these heavier themes by with themes of unity, collectivity, and community. Symmetry, eh?

I want to close out with a quote from an interview in the Aquarian with Pinegrove’s frontman, Evan Stephens Hall, where he discusses how he puts together an album.

“I like to think of an album as a house. Each songs is a room in a house. You want the design of the house to have a certain flow, of course, and a certain livability. The dynamics of the songs make up each room. Say you want to decorate your bathroom pretty and with a loud paint color. You might compensate that by making the living room a little bit more muted. There are plenty of different ways to do it, but as I put together each song for this album, I knew I was setting out to make it, the record, a livable home.”

What a beautiful approach. That’s it for this week. Enjoy the tracks.

Best,

Ben